What
is a Rain Garden?
A
rain garden is a landscaping feature using native
perennial (a plant that normally lives more than
two growing seasons and, after an initial period,
produces flowers annually) plants. The garden is
used to manage stormwater runoff from impervious
surfaces such as roofs, sidewalks and parking lots.
When you create a rain garden you can improve local
water quality while establishing a beautiful natural
area that will attract birds and butterflies. Rain
gardens allow rain and snowmelt to seep naturally
into the ground. This helps recharge our groundwater
supply, and prevents a water quality problem called
polluted runoff. Rain gardens are an important way
to make our cities and towns more attractive places
to live.
Rain
gardens are designed with a dip at the center
to collect rain and snow melt. Any degree of
indentation is useful, from slight dips made
with your garden trowel to large swales created
by professional landscapers. Neatly trimmed
shrubs, a crisp edge of lawn, stone retaining
walls and other devices can be used on garden
edges.
Many
people worry about rain gardens causing mosquitoes.
This is not a problem because rain gardens
do not retain water long enough for mosquito
reproduction. Standing water almost always
soaks away within a few hours and usually within
a matter of minutes. Mosquitoes require a number
of days in standing water for reproduction.
If water does remain for a matter of days in
your rain garden, then your soil is possibly
very clayey and/or very compacted. You may
be able to remedy this problem by loosening
and adding humus in the upper 6 to 18 inches.
Some
people think that a rain garden will cause
basement water problems. One rule of thumb
is to place the rain garden at least ten feet
from the house. However, soil and groundwater
conditions vary greatly from one location to
the next. If no moisture problems occur, then
you may be able to safely expand the rain garden
closer. If basement moisture problems do occur,
then you will want to move the rain garden
farther away.
The
rain garden at the Pathway to Water Quality
exhibit (at the 2005 Indiana State Fair) contains
the following plants:
- Sweet
Flag
- Swamp
Milkweed
- Bebb's
Oval sedge
- Bristly
Sedge
- Queen
of the Prairie
- Blue
Flag
- Common
Rush
- Great
Blue Lobelia
- False
Dragonhead
- Wool
Grass
- Great
Bulrush
Benefits
of using a rain garden
A rain garden has numerous benefits to helping residents
as well as the environment. A rain garden:
- Helps
remove standing water from your yard,
- Conserves
water,
- Filters
pollutants,
- Captures
unwanted sediment, and Creates beautiful
habitats for wildlife
Web
Links to Rain Garden Information
Rain
Gardens - Gardening with Water Quality In
Mind
Rain
Gardens - Improving
Water Quality in
Your Community (University
of Wisconsin Extension
and the Wisconsin
Dept. of Natural
Resources)
What
are Rain Gardens - Wisconsin DNR
Rain
Gardens and Biorention - Monroe County, Indiana
Govt.
Rain
Gardens - City of Valparaiso, Ind.
Rain
Gardens: Improve Stormwater Management in Your
Yard
Rain
Gardens: and mosquitoes This is not a problem
because...
Rain
Gardens - Gardening with Water Quality in Mind
Other
Rain Garden Links
How to Construct a Rain Garden
Rain
Gardens of West Michigan
Rain
Garden Network
Healthy
Landscapes
Clean
Water Campaign
Brooklyn
Botanic Garden-Using Spectacular Rain Gardens
Rain
Gardens: Resoring Our Watershed, Revitalizing
Our Community
Additional Rain Garden Links
Rain
Garden Publications - From the University
of Wisconsin Extension, NRCS and Wisconsin DNR
Rain
Garden Plants - Native Plants by Region
Landscaping
With Plants Native to Indiana: Indiana Native
Plant and Wildflower Society
Native
Plants: JFNew
Prairie
Nursery: Wildflowers and Native Grasses
|
